


Everything Looks Worse In Black And White

by moderatelybowling



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Big Brother Sans, Bullying, Families of Choice, Gen, Hugs, Implied Past Child Abuse, Post-Pacifist Route
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-03
Updated: 2016-01-03
Packaged: 2018-05-11 08:41:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,743
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5620573
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/moderatelybowling/pseuds/moderatelybowling
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Frisk had never truly appreciated color until they got to the Underground.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Everything Looks Worse In Black And White

**Author's Note:**

> so i wasn't planning to write undertale fic at ALL but then i was talking to my friend emily about how when you enter a battle, everything changes to black and white except for your soul, certain attacks, etc. and i was like...... but what if the world actually changed to black and white when frisk got into a fight? and then i decided that if no ones gonna write it then I WILL

Frisk had never truly appreciated color until they got to the Underground. Sure, they had sometimes taken the time to look at the warm colors of a sunset and the crisp blues of water in the spring, but they never realized how good they had it until the color was ripped away from them. Over and over and over it was ripped away, as they were forced to fight monsters in the Underground. During their time there, Frisk would feel their jaw clench and their hands shake as they walked by any monster they saw, even in the cheerful village of Snowdin. They would only loosen their death grip on their poor, battered stick when they had passed by and the colors of the world had remained.

However, all too often that the colors would drain away, only the bright red splash of their soul remaining. Frisk had clung to that color, that eye-searing red in the middle of the grayscale world that they were repeatedly forced into. The had known that as long as that small amount of color remained, they would be okay. They would survive. They wouldn't have to reset.

Frisk had learned to find comfort in some colors, while they feared others. They welcomed safe, bright green of Woshua's soap and Vegetoid's "dinner", while they feared the gold of Undyne's spears. And blue, well, Frisk tried not to think of the flicker of blue flame that haunted their dreams at night. It was that deadly flicker of blue from another another timeline (another  _life_ ) that Frisk feared most of all.

Even now that they were on the Surface, they feared it. They thought that Sans secretly knew about that fear. They could tell that he tried his best to keep his cool around them, even though it didn't always work. They saw the glow of it sometimes, deep in his eye, when he saw the scratches on Frisk's knees and elbows ("it's okay Sans it's _okay_  I just tripped it's okay") or when Frisk would wake with a yell, torn out of their nightmares about a life before the Underground (fights with words and slaps, not sticks and spears, fights from _this timeline_ ). Sans would realize what was happening when Frisk's hands would start to shake and their face would slip back into their impassive mask. He would quickly look away, covering his eye and taking deep breaths that he didn't need, until the blue had faded and Frisk's hands had stilled.

Despite these little hiccups, life had been good since Frisk and their monster family had arrived on the Surface. It had only been a few months, but the monsters had already set up their own little settlement. Frisk was happy there, living with their family. As far as the government was concerned Frisk lived with Toriel, but in reality they skipped around from house to house. They spent most of their time with Toriel and the skeleton brothers, but they frequently slept at Undyne and Alphys's, and sometimes at Asgore's. They had even been invited to stay at Mettaton's on a few memorable occasions. Frisk, for the first time in their life, was safe, and happy, and loved. That's why they feared, more than ever, the possibility of the world fading to black and white.

Frisk was finally forced to face their fear when they came home one day with a cut on their cheek. They had had another run-in with some bullies at school. Frisk had been enrolled in a human school while Toriel was working on getting her new school up and running, and while for the most part they were well-liked, there was a group of kids who weren't very fond of Frisk and their monster family. They had already gotten in trouble with the school, when they got caught pushing Frisk around about a week after they had been enrolled. The issue had been dealt with quickly, and as far as the school and Frisk's family was concerned, it was over. In reality, Frisk's bullies were just a lot more careful now. They always limited their tormenting to just harsh words and a few shoves (hence the scrapped knees), so that no one actually noticed. But that day they had shoved too hard. Frisk had fallen and scraped their cheek on a sharp rock. They had fled when they saw the blood, leaving Frisk to walk home on their own with a stinging cheek and red eyes.

Frisk fled to the skeleton bros' house, knowing that they would react to their injury a lot better than Toriel would. They opened the door quietly, praying that no one was downstairs so that they could sneak to the bathroom and try to make themselves a little more presentable. Luck, however, was not on their side. Sans sat on the couch, as if he knew something was wrong and was waiting for Frisk. He saw them the minute they walked in. Frisk saw shock flicker across his face, before it was quickly replaced by concern. He was across the room in an instant, kneeling down in front of Frisk to get a better look at their cut.

"What the hell happened to ya, kid?" he asked as his bony hands gently turned Frisk's face to the side. He carefully inspected the wound, not even looking surprised when Frisk didn't answer him. "Alright," he sighed, "we'll talk after you're cleaned up." He hurried out of the room to get the first-aid kit he kept in the bathroom (bought just for Frisk, since in this timeline skeletons didn't bleed).

Frisk waited on the couch for him to return, staring down at their hands. He sat down next to them when he had retrieved the first-aid kit and carefully began to clean the wound. When he had finally finished, he placed a bandage over the cut and leaned back to look at Frisk. They looked worryingly similar to the Frisk that he had first met in the Underground, a dirty band-aid on their cheek and fear in their eyes. He quickly pushed the thought from his mind, reminding himself that this was a good timeline, a timeline where they were happy, a timeline where Frisk _wouldn't reset_.

Frisk was glancing up at him now, their expression carefully blank. Sans heaved a sigh, knowing that it wouldn't be easy to get the story out of them.

"So are you gonna tell me what happened, kid?"

Silence.

"Come on, buddy, you know you can trust me."

Silence.

"Frisk."

"... I tripped." It was barely a whisper, and Frisk knew that it hadn't been convincing enough.

"Kid, you know I can tell when you're lying. Now are you going to tell me what happened or am I going to have to call up Toriel?"

That finally broke Frisk's mask, and worry flashed across their face before it was replaced with resignation. They took a deep breathe, and then muttered their response.

"..... it was those kids." They didn't look up when they heard Sans slowly respond.

"Frisk. I need you to tell me how long has this been going on."

"........ it never stopped." Frisk glanced up when they heard Sans inhale sharply, and was genuinely shocked when they saw the angry expression on Sans's skeletal face. The blue started to flicker to life in his eye as he said, very lowly, " _Why didn't you tell me._ "

Time seemed to pause for a moment, and Frisk thought to themselves "this is it." The timeline was officially going to go bad. The colors would fade away, and the only things left would be Frisk's blinking little soul and Sans' fiery blue eye. They waited for the peace that they'd been enjoying to finally shatter. And then they waited some more. The colors stayed. Frisk looked up at Sans in confusion, and realized that the blue had faded. He gave them a strained smile, and then spoke.

"I'm sorry, kiddo. I didn't mean to scare you. I'm not angry at you. I'm just angry at this entire situation. And I'm.... uh........ I'm sorry for losing my cool like that. I know you don't like it."

As Frisk looked up at San's dark eyes, the only light in them the tiny pinpricks of white, the tears that they'd been holding back finally started to fall. Sans looked shocked again, and looked even more so when Frisk threw themselves at him in a tight hug, sobbing into his jacket and mumbling. Despite their sobs and hiccups, Sans managed to make out some of Frisk's words. He caught snippets about colors, battles, and, to his horror, his eye. He stroked their back through it all, trying his best to comfort the distressed human.

Eventually, Frisk's sobs slowed until they were just sniffles. After a moment, they slowly let go of Sans's jacket and leaned back, not meeting his eyes. Sans fixed that quickly, whispering "Hey, it's okay" and taking their hand. Frisk finally met his eyes, but quickly looked down. Sans used his other hand to catch their chin and made them meet his eyes.

"Listen kid...." Sans began, "You don't have to worry about any of that stuff anymore. We're not in the Underground anymore. You've got a family that loves you, now, kiddo. And we might get a little frustrated sometimes, and maybe someday we _will_  get angry with each other... but buddy, you've gotta believe me...... I'm never going to be angry enough for this to come out," he tapped the bone around his eye, then paused for a moment. ".... not in this timeline. This is our happy ending, kid. You should quit worrying and enjoy it."

Sans finally let go of Frisk, and rubbed the back of his neck. He wasn't a fan of big speeches, but the look that Frisk was giving him made him glad that he'd said what he did. Frisk had finally calmed down, and although their eyes were still red, they were looking at Sans with a tiny smile on their face. They flung themselves towards him again, burrowing into his blue jacket as they hugged him happily. They felt Sans's arms come up to hug them back, and they sighed happily. They felt warm and safe with their face buried in Sans's shirt, with his jacket nearly covering their body. As Frisk sat there, warm and happy, they decided that maybe blue wasn't so bad of a color after all.

**Author's Note:**

> sorry for any mistakes, i wrote this in about an hour and a half  
> the title is from kodachrome by paul simon, since thats the line that got me thinking about this lmao


End file.
